GALAXY Nexus

Google and Samsung jointly announced last night the much anticipated Galaxy Nexus, which will be the first smartphone to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Although no particular carrier was mentioned for the device, it's long been rumored that Verizon opted out of the Samsung Galaxy S II to get first dibs on the Galaxy Nexus, and now it looks to be confirmed in a set of pictures from Google employee Romain Guy.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been priced, with one UK retailer claiming the smartphone will cost £429 pre-tax ($680) for the 16GB model. According to Clove, the first stock of the new Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone is expected in the UK in early November; however, the company also says that the 32GB version of the handset currently isn't scheduled to go on sale in the country.

Samsung has admitted that the new Galaxy Nexus was designed specifically with bypassing Apple patents in mind, mobile president Shin Jong-kyun saying that the company "will avoid everything we can." Talking to Yohhap News, Shin said Samsung "take patents very seriously" but due to the complexity of intellectual property there was no guarantee that the Galaxy Nexus would be immune from ligitation.

Ice Cream Sandwich should begin appearing on existing Android smartphones "a matter of weeks" after the Samsung Galaxy Nexus goes on sale in November, Google's Andy Rubin has confirmed. Rubin didn't specify which Android OEMs were expected to push out v4.0 first, while speaking at AllThingsD this morning, but did suggest that the delay between the first official Ice Cream Sandwich Googlephone and others getting to enjoy the new platform would be minimal.

Android is now three years old, and with v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Google has given it perhaps the biggest update yet. With elements pulled in from Gingerbread and Honeycomb, ICS also has plenty of new functionality debuting on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. We've spent some hands-on time with Android 4.0 on the new Nexus, so check out our first impressions after the cut.

The big takeaway is how consistent Android feels in this 4.0 release. Google has obviously worked hard to not only introduce new features but bring the older functionality up to speed so that everything fits together seamlessly, addressing a common criticism by iOS users that Android can feel piecemeal. The Roboto font looks great on the Galaxy Nexus' high-res display, and the animations shown in page transitions and when you tap on-screen icons like the new virtual buttons for home, back and menu are eye-catching enough to be interesting but not so involved as to slow the overall experience down.

Samsung's Galaxy Nexus is only - officially, anyway - a few hours old, but already carriers and retailers are queuing up to offer the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone. In the UK, carriers Vodafone and Three have both confirmed that they'll be offering the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus when it begins to go on sale from next month.

Samsung and Google unveiled the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in Hong Kong today, and we grabbed some hands-on time with the new dual-core smartphone. Just 8.94mm thick, with a Contour Curve design, huge high-resolution display and choice of LTE or HSPA+ versions, the Galaxy Nexus is a fitting flagship to continue Google's Nexus brand. Keep reading for our hands-on first impressions.

Among the slew of new features announced today for the Galaxy Nexus smartphone and Android Ice Cream Sandwich is a native app called Android Beam. This feature uses the built-in NFC on the Galaxy Nexus to allow users to easily share files between two Ice Cream Sandwich devices by simply tapping them together.

The Galaxy Nexus site is now live following the Google and Samsung joint announcement of the device along with the unveiling of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The smartphone is the first Google LTE handset to run this next-gen platform and the combo touts a slew of new features nicely recapped on the slick new site. Google also posted a fun new video for Ice Cream Sandwich on its Android site, which we've included after the cut.

You'll be running around easily through the web with many new features added to the newest version of Google's built-in browser for Android. This browser allows you to use tabs, tabs that sit in groups, and vertical collections of links for easy navigation. You'll be able to swipe through saved sites, get rid of them easily, and see your most viewed sites without effort. Full touch-screen interaction allows you to easily move through large images, and the entire system has a new aesthetic for a hands-off look.

Kim Titus of Samsung started off the Galaxy Nexus event by introducing the head of Samsung Mobile Communications, JK Shin, who began the show with the announcement that they'd be releasing the world's first Ice Cream Sandwich device. This device would have their very popular Super AMOLED display brand, LTE connectivity, and Google+ integration right out of the box. This was of course the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Shin handed the show off to Andy Rubin of Google who continued to illustrate the device and the ecosystem as one that can "do things you never thought of before."

Today the GALAXY Nexus has been revealed in Hong Kong to the world as the first device on earth to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This device has a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display with no less than 720p resolution, and it has a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP processor from Texas Instruments. The GALAXY Nexus is the first running what Google calls an entirely new look and feel to Android in Ice Cream Sandwich, along with multi-tasking, NFC support, a new notification system, and what they're calling "Software Navigation Buttons", this meaning that the physical Android home row of menu buttons are no more, everything is now right there inside the display.